This will be my final blog on the UK/Ireland trip. After the white Cliffs of Dover we will be preparing to head back to Kansas. We have moved to the York area and once again our new place is in the country. The next two pics show our new digs.
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| Our backyard |
We are also very close to the town of Thirsk where James Herriot lived. He is the author of all those veterinarian stories. However, his house is not open to the public. We did drive through the town though.
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| New Digs |
Today we took a trip to Whitby for the day and the Whitby Abbey pictured below was the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. It may not look all that creepy in sunlight, but use your imagination...
Bram (short for Abraham) Stoker graduated from Trinity College in Dublin. Later, he did extensive research in European folklore and vampires, and Count Dracula was born.
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| View of Whitby from the Abbey |
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| Ocean View from Abbey |
There was a Tea Garden at the Abbey and the next three pics show some of the patrons while I was there. See what I mean about people taking their dogs everywhere?
Vern wanted to explore the city some, but I opted to spend time in the less crowded city plaza and "people watch".
On the way back to the B&B we saw this giant hole in the ground. I suspected it was left by aliens who landed there, but there was an explanation (in the next pic) which ruined my theory. Turns out it was really a giant who threw a clod of earth at his wife...
And then of course there is the scientific theory which ruins everybody's fun.
The fields are turning pink and purple. The heather is bloomin'!
Oh the summertime is coming
and the trees are sweetly blooming
and the wild mountain thyme
grows around the blooming heather
Will ye go Lassie go?
Oh we'll all go together to pluck wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather
Will ye go Lassie go?
We went to York today and the first thing on our agenda was the Yorkminster Cathedral. You have to get pretty far away to photograph the whole thing because it is huge. So the picture below is not mine but stolen off the internet. We did a two-hour tour inside and suffice it to say, it was unimaginably beautiful. I did not even attempt to photograph the inside for that reason. Needed a wide angle lens. Even the pics on the internet did not do it justice, so if you want to see the inside, you have to go there.
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| Stolen Picture of Yorkminster |
The next few pics are just on the streets of York.
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| Constantine the Great |
We went to the Museum Garden and a guy had a few owls there so I took a few pics of them. Can't resist a cute animal.
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| Baby owl only a couple months old |
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| Whooooo? Me? |
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| I am going to pretend I don't see you |
The next pic is part of a wall built by the Romans.
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| Roman Wall |
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| Structure in Museum Garden |
Tomorrow we head off to the White Cliffs of Dover and are hoping to stop at Canterbury on the way. Stay tuned...
Our stop at Canterbury was...interesting. We wanted to see the Cathedral but no one was allowed inside because of some special service going on. So they offered to let us in for only around $20 to see the outside which just happened to be covered in scaffolding--LOL. We did not take the bait.
So I opted to steal a pic from the internet again and here it is:
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| Stolen Pic of Canterbury Cathedral |
In lieu of taking a cathedral tour, we walked around town and I just took pics of anything that looked interesting. There are interesting structures and just street scenes.
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| Rose Window of Cathedral |
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| Bertha Queen of Kent, princess of the Franks A.D. 597 |
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| King of Kent 597 AD |
The picture below is taken from our bedroom window in our new place. If you look very closely, beyond the trees you will see a darker blue and then a little white and lighter blue. The darker blue is the English Channel and the hazy white is France. So today I can say "I saw London I saw France..."
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| White Cliffs of France |
Today was very laid back. Spent the morning listening to a Redeemer sermon and then decided to spend the rest of the day at the local beach on the shores of the English Channel. Pictured below is the terminal of the train that takes cars through the tunnel under the Channel.
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| Train Terminal for Tunnel Train |
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| Pigeonhouse B & B |
When we got to the beach there were thousands of people there for such a small town. We discovered it was because it was Armed Services Day and so there were some special events going on. The plane below is an old war plane doing a few stunts over the water.
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| War plane |
While we were sitting in the park, we were mobbed by hundreds of seagulls coming out of nowhere. I kept looking for Alfred Hitchcock. He always appeared in his own movies...
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| BIRDS! |
Then the Red Arrows showed up and put on a fantastic performance for us. I got some shots of them when they were all together but they did a lot of different stunts that were amazing.
Notice the red, white and blue in the next few shots.
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| The finale |
These crocheted poppies were all over the fence as a memorial to those who served. It was a relaxing day. Tomorrow we move to our final B&B after visiting the Dover Castle.
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| Crocheted Poppies |
We spent our final day in Dover, first listing the Dover Castle and then of course the White Cliffs! The castle in Dover is probably the most important of all King Henry II's castle and it was called the Gateway to England. This castle had a lot of different buildings like a church, stables, living quarters, and 3 medieval tunnel systems, so it was very open and we could walk around and visit each.
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| Dover Castle |
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| View from Castle |
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| Church |
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| View of Ferry Station from Castle |
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| Catapult |
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| Sheep following their little trail around the castle |
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| Moat |
After visiting the castle we drove a couple miles to the famous White Cliffs of Dover. We hiked a public footpath out to a lighthouse and back. Here are some of the scenes along the way.
Tomorrow we set out for home. It has been a great trip. The weather has been consistently good--69-71 degrees--for highs and lots of sunny days. We have seen a lot but we are ready to come home. Thank you all for joining us on this adventure. See you in Kansas.
